Has SXSW jumped the shark?

It was 10 years ago that I first decided to journey to Austin for what was the 14th edition of South by Southwest and I had friends who told me “It’s really not that good anymore, just too big.” It’s the kind of thing you hear all the time about big events like this. (I’d been incorrectly warned that Burning Man was no longer worth visiting before my first of four trips.) I ignored the naysayers and packed my bags and my love for music and headed to the Texas Hill Country. And the cautions proved ridiculous. It was the most fun I’d ever had in searching out new music, and one of the best travel experiences of my life as well.

And so I went back and back and back, now equipped to shoot down the buzz killers each year. The 2010 edition is my tenth, and about halfway through the first day, I actually started to wonder myself if the warnings had finally come true. It was impossible to drive around downtown Austin, every venue seemed overpacked, sound problems plagued several of the stages, too many attendees just seemed to be out to get drunk, hardly interested in the music at all. Had it just gotten too big, were there too many stages for the festival operators to manage?

The answers may be yes to all those questions, but the reason we all go to SXSW is the reason those answers proved moot: The Music. All it takes is a magical show by an old favorite band, or a great discovery of something new to make you forget the hassles and remember how great it can be when it all works.

My colleague, Jim Harrington, is already ticking off some of his favorite bands and I’ll jump in with mine.

Will Sheff of Okkervil River and Roky Erickson at the Paste party in Austin (Photo by Meri Simon)

Roky sans guitar. (Photo by Meri Simon)

More Roky (Photo by Meri Simon)

Roky Erickson and Okkervil River: Two Texas rock institutions have joined forces for a soon-to-be-released album and upcoming tour. Erickson is known to all Nuggets fans for the 1966 hit “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” recorded by his band The 13th Floor Elevators. Not long after that band disappeared, Erickson began a long, torturous tour through Texas state mental hospitals where he was subjected to involuntary electroshock therapy and drug treatments. Now, at 62, he’s recorded “True Love Cast Out All Evil” with Okkervil River, probably the hottest indie rock band in Austin. He’s still quite fragile, as the show at the Paste Magazine party here showed. But the songs are great, the backing by Okkervil River shows off some of the most powerful work that band has done, and the two will take to the road and hit the Bay Area in May, one of only four stops on their tour.

Surfer Blood: This W. Palm Beach, Fla. band came into the week with big buzz. Their official showcase gig drew a big crowd to one of the smaller venues on Sixth Street. Already veterans of one national tour, the quintet is making some of the most interesting indie pop around these days. Their debut full-length album, Astro Coast, sounds like a mashup of The Who and Psychedelic Furs, and the show was a revelation. Chiming guitar, catchy riffs and sizzling energy abound. The band will be back in the Bay Area for an Amoeba Records in-store on April 1, and a show at Bottom of the Hill April 2.

Free Energy: This Philly quartet is updating classic 70s rock riffs for a 21st Century audience. As in many of the bands that serve as Free Energy’s inspiration, guitar is king. Nearly every song in their SXSW set featured dueling solos on twin Les Pauls. The sound is broad enough that it should appeal to 70s rock fans and those who came into their own in the 00s.

Glossary: Can a band recall both The Band and Thin Lizzy? If it’s this Murfreesboro, Tenn. outfit, the answer is yes. The rootsy America sound, and nasally, Rick Danko-like vocals evoke the legendary heroes of Big Pink, and the airy rock on the band’s new CD, “Feral Fire” bring to mind “The Boys Are Back in Town” and other Lizzy tunes. Glossary is already six CDs into its career and success has been fleeting, but the band deserves more.

Michael Mayer

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I think the size of the thing is what makes it so ridiculous but also so alluring. When I attended a few years back, I was able to flip back and forth between moderately filled venues that were somewhat close to the other, seeing about 50 very obscure acts over the course of 3 or so days.

The acts I caught all were all insanely talented and not over-hyped via the blogosphere – as I could have easily seen those type of over-hyped music acts in a similar crowded environment in Los Angeles at any given time during the year. Why bother standing in a line while on a musical vacation?

Nice article. Thx.

John Coronado

did anyone catch Micelle Shocked shows in the Bay Area?
i think she great, and playing small clubs must have been a wonderful expericence
but i missed them. Any comments?

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